Medieval Latin

Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in <a href="/facts/Roman_Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Roman Catholic</a> <a href="/facts/Western_Europe/YmWlV59w">Western Europe</a> during the <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">Middle Ages</a>. It was also the administrative language in the former <a href="/facts/Western_Roman_Empire/PkeT92o9">Roman Provinces</a> of <a href="/facts/Mauretania/w0SEbp5V">Mauretania</a>, <a href="/facts/Numidia_(Roman_province)/AV73bHeF">Numidia</a> and <a href="/facts/Africa_(Roman_province)/MIYYrhIF">Africa Proconsularis</a> under the <a href="/facts/Vandals/THjfVCF7">Vandals</a>, the <a href="/facts/Exarchate_of_Africa/BMb8RQ47">Byzantines</a> and the <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Altava/TeIzQkdC">Romano-Berber Kingdoms</a>, until it declined after the <a href="/facts/Arab_conquest_of_North_Africa/BA2TSPJg">Arab Conquest</a>. Medieval Latin in Southern and Central <a href="/facts/Visigothic_Kingdom/hXFkz67j">Visigothic Hispania</a>, conquered by the Arabs immediately after North Africa, experienced a similar fate, only recovering its importance after the <a href="/facts/Reconquista/N1yFfeWf">Reconquista</a> by the Northern Christian Kingdoms. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned as the main medium of scholarly exchange, as the <a href="/facts/Liturgical_language/557K2NXD">liturgical language</a> of the <a href="/facts/Roman_Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Church</a>, and as the working language of science, literature, law, and administration.
Medieval Latin represented a continuation of <a href="/facts/Classical_Latin/xFLyGtxs">Classical Latin</a> and <a href="/facts/Late_Latin/Ju8RH1es">Late Latin</a>, with enhancements for new concepts as well as for the increasing integration of Christianity. Despite some meaningful differences from Classical Latin, its writers did not regard it as a fundamentally different language. There is no real consensus on the exact boundary where <a href="/facts/Late_Latin/Ju8RH1es">Late Latin</a> ends and Medieval Latin begins. Some scholarly surveys begin with the rise of early <a href="/facts/Ecclesiastical_Latin/KnhRpyeB">Ecclesiastical Latin</a> in the middle of the 4th century, others around 500, and still others with the replacement of written Late Latin by written <a href="/facts/Romance_language/TMK4KHI3">Romance languages</a> starting around the year 900.
The terms Medieval Latin and Ecclesiastical Latin are sometimes used synonymously, though some scholars draw distinctions. Ecclesiastical Latin refers specifically to the form that has been used by the <a href="/facts/Roman_Catholic_Church/rJ4F4gqH">Roman Catholic Church</a> (even before the Middle Ages in Antiquity), whereas Medieval Latin refers to all of the (written) forms of Latin used in the Middle Ages.
The <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance languages</a> spoken in the Middle Ages were often referred to as Latin, since the Romance languages were all descended from <a href="/facts/Vulgar_Latin/uR9BLlE5">Vulgar Latin</a> itself. Medieval Latin would be replaced by educated humanist <a href="/facts/Renaissance_Latin/0qbQQwnc">Renaissance Latin</a>, otherwise known as <a href="/facts/Neo-Latin/mbBrTVEd">Neo-Latin</a>.

Medieval Latin open-in-new

Medieval Latin